Life-long love of cooking sparks The Crab Hut

Published 8:28 am Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Qwan Butts says that cooking was always his first love. Growing up, he spent time watching cooking shows but took a different path career-wise. He wound up becoming a welder rather than following his true passion. 

His welding job allowed him to travel all over the world while working but it eventually became tiresome. When Butts would come home from jobs, he cooked for family and friends.

That eventually transitioned to him posting his food on social media and selling plates, which proved to be a hit. He still didn’t make the leap into cooking, opting instead to try out other jobs. Without a lack of passion on his part for those gigs, they eventually failed. 

Then he was approached by a friend who was aware of his cooking skills, and she offered him a space to cook. Though he still was not completely confident, he reembraced his first love of cooking full-time. With his life-long passion for cooking, it would be hard for him to fail. 

Butts eventually opened The Crab Hut at 2679 N. Columbia St. in Milledgeville. The process was not always easy because he did not come from a business background and had little to no idea how the restaurant business worked. He said, “The restaurant business is kind of like a Jolly Rancher, hard but sweet.”

At The Crab Hut, customers will find his specialty, seafood, on the menu. The restaurant is best known for its lobster and Philly Qrolls, his take on egg rolls. The newly-revamped menu also includes several different pastas including shrimp, lobster and salmon. The menu also features seafood boils, various combos and wings. 

The Crab Hut will also host its first-ever food truck cookoff event on April 6. Butts said idea for it “came from me just wanting to bring the food truck vibes and energy to the town.

“I want people to really come out and enjoy different types of food from vendors and different cultures,” he said. 

The cookoff portion of the event, which will feature different competitions, will be more for fun than anything else, according to Butts. 

Though Butts said that feedback from the community has been mostly positive, he enjoys any sort of feedback that he can get.

It means a lot to Butts to be able to open The Crab Hut, even if he has had to learn a lot beyond cooking to handle the business decisions. After all, cooking is his passion. 

“My mom and grandmas gave me the love for cooking, that’s why I enjoy it so much,” Butts said. “It’s kind of like therapy to me, it’s relaxing, [and] I enjoy watching people eat my art.”

The Crab Hut is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. 

For more information call at 478-453-0302 or find the business on Facebook.